


By Name

by SilhouetteOfLight



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, No editing lets do thsi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 04:24:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14036115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilhouetteOfLight/pseuds/SilhouetteOfLight
Summary: If you listen carefully, you'll notice that the Bat never calls his criminals by anything other than their names. (Except Selina, but she's a special case.)---Not my best work, but the idea's been sitting in me for a while and wouldn't die. Red Hood understands better than anyone why Bruce calls his villains by their real names.





	By Name

"Arkham breakout. It's bad."

Four words from an emerald screen are all it takes to send the city of Gotham into a wild panic. The idle noise of the streets seems to vanish in moments, and Gotham is shrouded in an eerie silence. On opposite ends of the city, two groups meet. In one, the line blurs between Hero and vigilante, but they all fight for the light, in their own ways. They are tense- Worried. Never for themselves, but for the innocents caught in the crossfire, and even more, for those too far gone for them to save.

 

On the other side of the city, however, another group disbands almost as quickly as it was created. Some call them villains, or criminals. Some of them are merely forces of nature given human skin. They are dark, twisted reflections of Gotham itself, all of its vices, and they agree on nothing except one idea. Freedom means that the Bat must fall.

 

* * *

 

 

The Red Hood sighed as he slammed his fist where Riddler had been moments prior. Both were uncharacteristically quiet, neither quite prepared for this fight. "Give it up, Riddler. I'm not B, I won't play your games."

 

"Won't you?" Riddler smirked, leaping back with more agility than a man his age should rightfully have. "Even if innocents are at stake? Children?"

 

Red Hood roared incomprehensibly, and his attacks became a hailstorm, fists colliding with deadly accuracy and violent rage. Green and red tinted the edges of his vision for a brief moment before he shook his head and stood back for a moment, allowing his sight to clear and looking on what he had done. In front of him, Riddler was unconscious, bleeding, with three broken bones and countless lacerations on his exposed skin. He'd live, though. Red Hood smirked as he pulled out his zip ties to capture the criminal. "Especially then, crazy bastard."

 

* * *

 

 

The room was silent as the Riddler woke up, and after a moment of confusion, he saw the red reflection of light from the Hood's helmet. He stayed deathly still, hoping that Hood didn't realize he was awake. If he was lucky, he could-

 

"You know you're breaking him, right Nygma?" The Red Hood suddenly spoke, the eyes on his otherwise featureless mask boring holes into the captured criminal in an instant. "Every time Arkham opens up its damn doors, it breaks him that much more, and one day, there won't be anything left."

  
Riddler stared at his adversary, silent. His expression was contemplative, although the tone of his response was nothing more than flippant. "And why would you tell a hardened criminal like myself that, hmm? Why should the Riddler care about how the Batman feels?"

 

"Because you're not the Riddler, dammit!" The Hood stood abruptly, grabbing the surprised villain by the shirt before continuing, "You're Edward Nygma, and that's all the Bat cares about. Edward Nygma, Doctor Pamela Isley, Doctor Harleen Quinzel, Distract Attorney Harvey Dent, even Jonathan Fucking Crane! Haven't you noticed that he never calls you by anything but your names? Haven't you noticed even monsters like you are still  _people_ to him? How he always,  _always_ , offers you a way out before he beats the crap out of you? He doesn't give a damn what you've done, how many people you've killed, how many orphans you've made or minds you've broken- He wants to fix you. He will always want to fucking fix you, no matter how much it hurts him."

 

For a beat, the world stood still, the Red Hood white-knuckle gripping the Riddler's shirt as the costumed criminal stared back at him in abject fear at his outburst, glancing back and forth from the vigilante's holstered guns and his nearly featureless mask. Hood scoffed, throwing him back into his chair. "Remember what I said, scum. Every damn word, because I won't repeat it. The Batman cares about Edward Nygma, but me? When I look at your sorry ass, I only see the Riddler, and there's a bullet in one of my guns with that name written on it."

 

With that, the Red Hood left the room. Moments later, before Nygma had a chance to fully recover from the Hood's onslaught, police burst into the room, guns pointed at him. "Don't move, Riddler!"

 

The Riddler- Edward Nygma- stared out the door, motionless. A dozen sharp responses died on his lips as he saw a glint of red in the darkness of the hallway, and he wondered idly how the Hood had positioned himself so well that none of the officers saw him. One of them- Officer Cash, according to the tag on his uniform, approached him with cuffs. "I'm going to take you out of those ropes, and then I'm going to cuff you. As long as you don't try to run, I won't have to hurt you." He scowled before continuing, almost growling, "Please, Riddler. Try to run."

 

Nygma paused to consider. "I don't think I will. Not this time, at least. Not yet."


End file.
